Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1887-09-02
EIGHT vANDERBILTs.
People who Entertain Ambitions Beyond
Money Grubbing.

Money Grubbing.
Mrs. William II. Vanderbilt bore her
husband eight children, writes Julian Ralph
from New York. These were Margaret.
now Mrs. Eliot f. Shepard; Cornelius,
william X, Emily, now Mrs. Thorne
Sloane, wife of the great carpet dealer;
Frederick W., Florence Adele, now wife
of w. Mex. Twombley, the pushing
westerner, now in charge of some of the
heavier of the Vanderbilt interests Leila,
who married Dr. w. Seward Webb son
of the old fighting editor, DR.. James
Watson Webb, and now head of the
| New ork Central -Parlor Car company,
and George W., the eighth child and fourth
son. Not girl has married what in Eng
land, is called an "aristocrat,n an dler.
Every man jack of their husbands made his
way in the world before he married a Van
derbit. The boys also took care of them
selves. The two elder sons. Cornelius and
William X. want to enter public life-try
to imagine the commodore or William r.
harboring such thoughts, if you can. They
! want to distinguish themselves among and
for the people But for the Henry George
movement last year, one or the other would
| have been nominated for mayor by the re
! pnbllcanS; but the brothers had sense
enough to see what an ugly fight that would
make. Cornelius works harder than most
very poor men. Like President Cleveland,
/ he cannot leave details to subOr,linatcS. He
is what you might call the head of finance
of the Vanderbilt system, chairman of the
! board Of directors of the Central and Har
| lem, and deep in responsibilities ON the other
! lines. He is 40 vars old and worth abou
1000, Geo. When he was BOY his father
got him Il clerlishp.in the Shoe and Leather
| bank. He refused a tour of Europe then
| because it would take him from his desk
and he is just as assiduous now. so much so
that his friends fear he is hurting himself
| Fancy a man worth $40, COO, 600 killing
himself withswork. Queer world, isn't it,
William X. takes life much more easily
and holds lighter offices. Still he has his
hands full and works every day, / months
i'll the year, as most men would never dream
of doing had they his enormous pile. He
got substantial training in his youth, also
as clerk in the office of the Hudson River
road. Neither of these men has any vices
or any hobbies except that of attention to
business. Both go straight home from their
work, are true to their wives and fond of
their families, possess libraries that they
enjoy and encourage their wives to devote
! time and money to worthy charities. Their
younger brother Erred the third boy, is
| credited with being the smarteSt of them all
| lie Is believed to have turned the Sl2 600, 600
he started with into 500 600, coo already
! He seems to have inherited an uncommon
share Of the genius of the old commodore
! Fred revealed his talents before William H.
did. Once when the old man came home
from Europe he found that his boys had all
been up to the neck in Wall street. William
X. and Cornelius We're all tangled up and
were glad to interest their father and use
his advice to make their losses as light as
| possible, but when the old man got round
to Fred that youth remal Sed, Don't wor-
ry about me; I'm not in need of help. "
He had climbed in on the opposite side of the
market. He is a sure enough Vanderbilt,
though he is in debt to his mother for a
| fund of amiability that was not a striking
trait with either his father or the commo-
dore, The wonder of the family, however,
is young George who is % years of age, and
of a literary turn. 1t is a little hard to be-
lieve that of Vanderbilt, but George is
distinctly a student, and ambitious to pro
duce literary work. He is to be pitied for
his health, though, which is far from what
| it ought to be. He seems not to possess the
Nanderbiltan faculty of acquiring large
fractions of earth, but he will never be poor
The commodore left him Il million, and his
| father doubled it as his guardian. For 81
his father decided him the family property
ON Staten Island and he is now the keeper
of the family mausoeum, as we'll
Here and there among the children the
mothers qualities may not shine, but they
are not lacking in any of the family, and all
are better for the possession of them.
think it will be found that the world will be
better for it, also, because these new Van
| derhits are all ambitious to distinguish
themselves as something better than mere
magnets possessed of the power to attract
gold.